A Challenge That Takes The Biscuit!

It is in the genes.

I referenced a few weeks ago a quote from a poem about doing your very best against all the odds and the particular lines from the poem that have most meaning were; “Rise and rise again, until the sheep have become lions”.

We saw again on Sunday from our young group of Waterford hurlers a collective will, drive and determination to well and truly uncork the bottle and we outplayed a more experienced team of hurlers. This true grit and determination is something that we all should and need to aspire to. To be part of a winning team means setting yourself your own challenging goals and this in turn will have a positive effect on those around you whether that be in your home, at work or during you

r leisure time.

Defining you role within an organisation is a challenge to all of us and we all know those individuals that appear to take this in their stride and emerge, on the surface anyway, to be cool as the proverbial cucumber and these people seem to have a great degree of confidence and very, very little self-doubt. We need to surround ourselves with these drivers and achievers in business if said business is to have longevity.

Like our young Waterford hurlers who have no doubt set themselves the tough goal of winning a Munster title, myself and seven other members of The Biscuit Club, a cycling sportif, set ourselves a very challenging goal of completing the Wicklow 200km cycle on Sunday 7^th June. Individually, we were all working away on our own fitness and I am sure we were all working out in our own minds just how we were to complete this gargantuan challenge. However we could all take comfort in the knowledge that we would collectively suffer the pain together.

I myself, having literally only picked up racing road bike in August of last year (2014), found the task in hand very daunting and I believed that for me to complete the 200km within my timeframe of under eight hours would be a huge mental challenge for myself. However, my past life and business experiences have taught me that the greater the challenge the greater my focus and this in turn drives me forward at an accelerated pace to relish whatever challenge is put in front of me. I am that dog who will not let the bone go and I know from my rugby playing days that I would always have sought out the biggest maddest player on the opposition team and smash them within the first few minutes of a game, just to lay down a marker. I suppose that in a way my Scottish genes mean that I really do savour a challenge.

Typical MAMIL.

On the Sunday 7^th June I was mentally prepared to tackle the very best of the hills and mountains that the Wicklow 200km could throw at me. Even a flat tyre before I set off would not distract my mind from the task in hand. And so eight intrepid Middle Aged Men In Lycra (MAMILs) set off at around 07:00 on Sunday morning to test our fitness, endurance, mental fortitude and no doubt there was just an edge of competitiveness to see just how we would compete against much more seasoned cyclists.

After many, many, many hours literally welded to the saddle we managed to come back, in ones and twos, to the finish line, at Bray Leisure Centre, in around 7 hours and 15 to 25 minutes. Remarkable times from everyone who took part and all the more remarkable as these MAMIL’s all have day jobs and cycling is after all a hobby and a pastime. The Wicklow 200km challenged all of us in a very personal way and to a man everyone stood up to the challenge and although utterly exhausted we managed to still smile at the end of an epic journey.

For me personally to get round the 200km in approximately seven hours and twenty minutes meant that I had over achieved on my goal of competing the 200km in less than eight hours. Having smashed my own personal goal I am already considering setting an under seven hours target for next year! Now there is a challenge!!!!!

Michael, Declan, John, Gary, Stephen & Ray.

Ambitious, absolutely YES. Is this actually achievable for me? Well I will find out in twelve months time and I am sure an increased number of Biscuits from Waterford City will join us in the challenge.

The setting of tough ambitious goals and targets works for me and works for those around me. This in part means that many of the people I surround myself with are by their very nature extremely positive people and certainly will not fear a challenge. Whilst we may all get slightly apprehensive about the challenges we set ourselves, a tough challenge tests our very character and our mental resolve. If you are sound in mind then anything is possible and you will go through life seeking out new opportunities with a degree of excitement that is palpable for all to see.

As a life lesson I see at the moment many teenagers getting overly stressed and worried about leaving certification examinations. These young adults who have done the hard work, put in the study times and covered the course work will do well. They just need to believe that they have prepared enough for the challenges of examinations.  They need to believe that they will do well and it is the responsibility of those positive people around these young adults to install the confidence that is needed to face the challenges of the examination room.

In life we all should be seeking out bigger tougher challenges that will stretch us both physically and mentally. Our mind and body both crave regular exercise and the more we work our bodies constituent parts the better we will be to meet whatever challenge our work life and leisure life throws at us.

Too big a challenge?

Being able to say that you have done your absolute best and could give no more is the most any business can ask of its employees. If that business is lucky enough to have a motivated workforce and the business knows how to challenges it staff members then such a business will have longevity. However, surround yourself with lazy, negative, pessimistic and unmotivated staff members this will ensure that a business has no future.

How we tackle challenges in life and in business define us. So remember that every uphill has a downhill just over the summit and the tougher the uphill the greater the reward coming down the other side.

Rise and Rise again, Until the Lambs have become Lions.

“Rise and Rise again,

Like the Phoenix from the ashes,

Until the Lambs have become Lions,

And the Rule of Darkness is no more.”

This seems to be a very apt poem for Waterford at the moment. We have been for far too long “down and out” and yet can we now see the real signs of positivity beginning to return to this wonderful City and County.

I have over the last number of weeks touched upon and written about the many, many positive business stories that have come our way and this week is no different.

We now have confirmation that Bausch and Lomb are to invest significantly in Waterford City and expand the plant that manufactures products for a truly worldwide market. I am sure that we can all remember the not too distant announcement from the new owners of Bausch and Lomb, Valeant Pharmaceuticals, that they were either to cut pay and resize the workforce or close the plant. This in hindsight, though a very tough decision to take for the workforce, has in the end been played out positively for all concerned.

Valeant have been true to their word that short term pain would lead to long term gain and we can see the fruits of this promise with a multi-million Euro investment in Waterford City and the South East region. There can be absolutely no doubt that the very tough business decisions made and taken not even 12 months ago will see long term benefit for Waterford City and the employees of B & L.

This news, in addition to the announcement of the Portlaw development by Agora Incorporated, will, I am sure, deliver much needed additional jobs across the region and more importantly help to reduce our unemployment rate back towards the national average target.

I also believe that there will be further positive job announcements in the near future and this to must be welcomed by ALL and celebrated. As collectively we are beginning to put Waterford back on the jobs market and that can only be viewed as encouraging news.

Whilst the jobs news is great the sporting success of the Senior Hurling Team must also be applauded and will in time help to create a more positive attitude from the people of Waterford.

I have asked the question many times over as to why our nearest neighbours are more positive about business and business opportunities. And I do believe that due to the county’s phenomenal hurling successes the business community and the people of Kilkenny are just not quite so shy when it comes to “beating their own drums!”

But perhaps now Waterford is on a sporting success journey that will allow the people of Waterford to once again believe that they have something to shout positively about in terms of GAA Hurling.

Thanks to Noel Browne for the picture.

I must confess that having come from Scotland to Waterford City, some fifteen years ago, I am not familiar with Hurling and all the finer points of the game. The Garland household was brought up on rugby and my Father was so respected in the game that his ashes are actually sprinkled on the pitch at Murrayfield, on the try line, under the goalposts, at what used to be the old clock terracing end of the stadium. We sprinkled my Father’s ashes in 1999 and Scotland did in fact win the last Five Nations that year, but since then our Nations rugby prowess has diminished and we seem to now be collecting more wooden spoons than championships. I suppose I must take heart from the fact that we are reigning Five Nations Champions and yet I attended the WLR FM Big Rugby Breakfast last week and Ronan O’Gara did suggest that I start supporting another sport – I wonder why? 

I have watched Waterford play hurling on many occasions and whilst I still do not fully understand the sophistication of the game it did seem to me that the team did not fully believe in their own ability to win. They seemed to play the first half extremely well and fade or falter in the second half. But the team of young guns that I now see on the field of play seem to have absolutely no fear of their opposition and they simply go out believing that they are better than the foe they will face on the pitch on any given Sunday. The players chase and chase again and never seem to give up. They are simply prepared to leave it all on the pitch and I am sure that after the game last Sunday there were many, many aching joints and sore muscles.

The self belief we have will determine how our business functions and operates and this in turn will determine just how successful we are in business. Self belief is something we ALL have to learn and accommodate in our everyday lives and the more we believe in our own abilities the better we will ultimately perform. We must also expel the self-doubt that lingers in us all if we are to face adversity in the face and travel the hardest road to our destination. As without testing oneself in our everyday and business lives we are clearly not trying hard enough.

The joy of our Waterford Hurlers will lift the City and the County and quite rightly create expectation for the coming Championship games. We must all harness the drive, determination and positivity of the team, the squad and the backroom staff and shout, without shame, about the wonderful Waterford City and County we all live, work and play in.

It is time for ALL our Lambs to become Lions once more and as the City and County rises from the ashes we must embrace the recent multi-million Euro investment success and we must celebrate our sporting success.

 “Impossible is a word only to be found in the dictionary of fools,” Napoleon Bonaparte.